Essential Components of RTI – A Closer Look at Response to Intervention April 2010 National Center on Response to Intervention http://www.rti4success.org About the National Center on Response to Intervention Through funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs, the American Institutes for Research and researchers from Vanderbilt University and the University of Kansas have established the National Center on Response to Intervention. The Center provides technical assistance to states and districts and builds the capacity of states to assist districts in implementing proven response to intervention frameworks. National Center on Response to Intervention http://www.rti4success.org This document was produced under U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs Grant No. H326E070004 to the American Institutes for Research. Grace Zamora Durán and Tina Diamond served as the OSEP project officers. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or polices of the Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service or enterprise mentioned in this publication is intended or should be inferred. This product is public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. While permission to reprint this publication is not necessary, the citation should be: National Center on Response to Intervention (March 2010). Essential Components of RTI – A Closer Look at Response to Intervention. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Response to Intervention. Introduction To assist states and local districts with planning for RTI, the National Center on Response to Intervention (NCRTI) has developed this information brief, Essential Components of RTI – A Closer Look at Response to Intervention. This brief provides a definition of RTI, reviews essential RTI components, and responds to frequently asked questions. The information presented is intended to provide educators with guidance for RTI implementation that reflects research and evidence-based practices, and supports the implementation of a comprehensive RTI framework. We hope that this brief is useful to your RTI planning, and we encourage you to contact us with additional questions you may have regarding effective imple- mentation of RTI. NCRTI believes that rigorous implementation of RTI includes a combination of high quality, culturally and linguistically responsive instruction, assessment, and evidence-based intervention. Further, the NCRTI believes that comprehensive RTI implementation will contribute to more meaningful identification of learning and behavioral problems, improve instructional quality, provide all students with the best opportunities to succeed in school, and assist with the identification of learn- ing disabilities and other disabilities. Through this document, we maintain there are four essential components of RTI: l A school-wide, multi-level instructional and behavioral system for preventing school failure l Screening l Progress Monitoring l Data-based decision making for instruction, movement within the multi-level system, and disability identification (in accordance with state law) Essential Components of RTI—A Closer Look at Response to Intervention 1 The graphic below represents the relationship among the essential components of RTI. Data-based decision making is the essence of good RTI practice; it is essential for the other three components, screening: progress monitoring and multi-leveled instruction. All components must be implemented using culturally responsive and evidence based practices. Defining RTI NCRTI offers a definition of response to intervention that reflects what is currently known from research and evidence-based practice. Response to intervention integrates assessment and intervention within a multi-level prevention system to maximize student achievement and to reduce behavioral problems. With RTI, schools use data to identify students at risk for poor learning outcomes, monitor student progress, provide evidence-based interventions and adjust the intensity and nature of those interventions depending on a student’s responsiveness, and identify students with learning disabilities or other disabilities. 2 Essential Components of RTI—A Closer Look at Response to Intervention Levels, Tiers, and Interventions The following graphic depicts the progression of support across the multi-level prevention system. Although discussions in the field frequently refer to “tiers” to designate different interventions, we intentionally avoid the use of this term when describing the RTI framework and instead use “levels” to refer to three prevention foci: primary level, secondary level, and tertiarylevel . Within each of these levels of prevention, there can be more than one intervention. Regardless of the number interventions a school or district implements, each should be classified under one of the three levels of prevention: primary, secondary, or tertiary. This will allow for a common understanding across schools, districts, and states. For example, a school may have three interventions of approximately the same intensity in the secondary prevention level, while another school may have one intervention at that level. While there are differences in the number of interventions, these schools will have a common understanding of the nature and focus of the secondary prevention level. Each prevention level may, but is not required to, have multiple tiers of interventions. Tertiary level of prevention Secondary level of prevention Primary level of prevention Essential Components of RTI—A Closer Look at Response to Intervention 3 The “What” Part of the Center’s Definition of RTI RTI integrates student assessment and instructional intervention RTI is a framework for providing comprehensive support to students and is not an instructional practice. RTI is a prevention oriented approach to linking assessment and instruction that can inform educators’ decisions about how best to teach their students. A goal of RTI is to minimize the risk for long-term negative learning outcomes by responding quickly and efficiently to documented learning or behav- ioral problems and ensuring appropriate identification of students with disabilities. RTI employs a multi-level prevention system A rigorous prevention system provides for the early identification of learning and behavioral challenges and timely intervention for students who are at risk for long-term learning problems. This system includes three levels of intensity or three levels of prevention, which represent a continuum of supports. Many schools use more than one intervention within a given level of prevention. l Primary prevention: high quality core instruction that meets the needs of most students l Secondary prevention: evidence-based intervention(s) of moderate intensity that addresses the learning or behavioral challenges of most at-risk students l Tertiary prevention: individualized intervention(s) of increased intensity for students who show minimal response to secondary prevention At all levels, attention is on fidelity of implementation, with consideration for cultural and linguistic responsiveness and recognition of student strengths. RTI can be used to both maximize student achievement and reduce behavioral problems The RTI framework provides a system for delivering instructional interventions of increasing intensity. These interventions effectively integrate academic instruction with positive behavioral supports. The Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Center (http://www.pbis.org) provides a school-wide model similar 4 Essential Components of RTI—A Closer Look at Response to Intervention to the framework described herein, and the two can be combined to provide a school-wide academic and behavioral framework. RTI can be used to ensure appropriate identification of students with disabilities By encouraging practitioners to implement early intervention, RTI implementation should improve academic performance and behavior, simultaneously reducing the likelihood that students are wrongly identified as having a disability. The “How” Part of the Center’s Definition of RTI Identify students at risk for poor learning outcomes or challenging behavior Struggling students are identified by implementing a 2-stage screening process. The first stage, universal screening, is a brief assessment for all students conducted at the beginning of the school year; however, some schools and districts use it 2-3 times throughout the school year. For students who score below the cut point on the universal screen, a second stage of screening is then conducted to more accurately predict which students are truly at risk for poor learning outcomes. This second stage involves additional, more in-depth testing or short-term progress monitoring to confirm a student’s at risk status. Screening tools must be reliable, valid, and demonstrate diagnostic accuracy for predicting which students will develop learning or behavioral difficulties. What is a cut point? A cut point is a score on the scale of a screening tool or a progress monitoring tool. For universal screeners, educators use the cut point to determine whether to provide additional intervention. For progress monitoring tools, educators use the cut point to determine whether the student has demonstrated adequate response, whether to make an instructional